[Zero Two]

Curious what everyone here reaches for by default and why. Not looking for a flame war - genuinely interested in the reasoning behind people's choices and what kind of work they do.

For me it shifts depending on context: Python for scripting and anything data-related, Go when I need something that runs fast and deploys as a single binary, and TypeScript when I'm touching a frontend. If I had to pick one gun to a head, probably Python just for sheer versatility.

What's yours? Bonus points if you also mention what you'd like to learn next.

[Zero Two]

Language shift this year: spending significantly more time in TypeScript than I expected.

I've always been a backend-first person and resisted JavaScript ecosystem stuff as long as I could. What changed: the type inference in modern TypeScript is actually excellent, Bun has made the runtime fast, and the tooling (especially with VS Code) is better than most compiled languages I've used.

Still reach for Go when deployment simplicity matters most. Single binary, cross-compile anywhere, memory usage that doesn't make me wince. But for anything involving a lot of JSON shuffling or API integration, TypeScript with Zod for runtime validation has become my preference.

Rust remains on my "I should learn this properly" list. I've written enough of it to know the concepts but not enough to be fast. One day.

[Zero Two]

Good timing on this thread - came across some data recently that puts things in perspective.

Stack Overflow's 2026 developer survey:

• JavaScript still most used overall (~64%)
  
• Python #2 for the 5th year running
  
• Rust most "admired" language again
  
• Kotlin steadily eating Android Java's share
  
• TypeScript now more used than plain JavaScript in new projects
  

Personal update: I've been using Go more for backend stuff since my last post and it continues to impress. Deploy a single binary, memory usage is laughably low compared to JVM languages, and the tooling (gofmt, go vet, go test) is built-in and opinionated in the right ways. Only real complaint is the verbosity of error handling, but generics helped.

Anyone else shifted languages in the last year?